Apparatus, method and article for providing to a user device information regarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices at a portable electrical energy storage device collection, charging and distribution machine

ABSTRACT

A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). Availability of charged portable electrical energy storage devices available at a collection, charging and distribution machine are communicated to or acquired by a mobile device of a user or a user&#39;s vehicle. Once the mobile device of a user or a user&#39;s vehicle comes within close proximity of the collection, charging and distribution machine or within a particular area surrounding the collection, charging and distribution machine, the collection, charging and distribution machine or a collection, charging and distribution machine management system communicates an alert (e.g., over a cellular network, short range wireless signal or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network) to the mobile device or vehicle indicating how many portable electrical energy storage devices are available at the distribution machine.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to the distribution ofrechargeable electrical power storage devices (e.g., secondarybatteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors), which may be suitablefor use in a variety of fields or applications, for instancetransportation and non-transportation uses.

Description of the Related Art

There are a wide variety of uses or applications for portable electricalpower storage devices.

One such application is in the field of transportation. Hybrid and allelectrical vehicles are becoming increasingly common. Such vehicles mayachieve a number of advantages over traditional internal combustionengine vehicles. For example, hybrid or electrical vehicles may achievehigher fuel economy and may have little or even zero tail pipepollution. In particular, all electric vehicles may not only have zerotail pipe pollution, but may be associated with lower overall pollution.For example, electrical power may be generated from renewable sources(e.g., solar, hydro). Also for example, electrical power may begenerated at generation plants that produce no air pollution (e.g.,nuclear plants). Also for example, electrical power may be generated atgeneration plants that burn relatively “clean burning” fuels (e.g.,natural gas), which have higher efficiency than internal combustionengines, and/or which employ pollution control or removal systems (e.g.,industrial air scrubbers) which are too large, costly or expensive foruse with individual vehicles.

Personal transportation vehicles such as combustion engine poweredscooters and/or motorbikes are ubiquitous in many places, for example inthe many large cities of Asia. Such scooters and/or motorbikes tend tobe relatively inexpensive, particularly as compared to automobiles, carsor trucks. Cities with high numbers of combustion engine scooters and/ormotorbikes also tend to be very densely populated and suffer from highlevels of air pollution. When new, many combustion engine scootersand/or motorbikes provide a relatively low polluting source of personaltransportation. For instance, such scooters and/or motorbikes may havehigher mileage ratings than larger vehicles. Some scooters and/ormotorbikes may even be equipped with basic pollution control equipment(e.g., catalytic converter). Unfortunately, factory specified levels ofemission are quickly exceeded as the scooters and/or motorbikes are usedand either not maintained and/or as the scooters and/or motorbikes aremodified, for example by intentional or unintentional removal ofcatalytic converters. Often owners or operators of scooters and/ormotorbikes lack the financial resources or the motivation to maintaintheir vehicles.

It is known that air pollution has a negative effect on human health,being associated with causing or exacerbating various diseases (e.g.,various reports tie air pollution to emphysema, asthma, pneumonia,cystic fibrosis as well as various cardiovascular diseases). Suchdiseases take large numbers of lives and severely reduce the quality oflife of countless others.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Zero tail pipe pollution alternatives to combustion engines wouldgreatly benefit air quality, and hence the health of large populations.

While the zero tail pipe emissions benefit of all-electric vehicles areappreciated, adoption of all-electric vehicles by large populations hasbeen slow. One of the reasons appears to be the cost, particularly thecost of secondary batteries. Another one of the reasons appears to bethe limited driving range available on a single charge of a battery, andthe relatively long time (e.g., multiple hours) necessary to recharge asecondary battery when depleted.

The approaches described herein may address some of the issues whichhave limited adoption of zero tail pipe emission technology,particularly in densely crowded cities, and in populations with limitedfinancial resources.

For example, some of the approaches described herein employ collection,charging and distribution machines, which may be otherwise be termed askiosks or vending machines, to collect, charge and distribute electricalpower storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors orultracapacitors). Such machines may be distributed about a city or otherregion at a variety of locations, such as convenience stores or existinggas or petrol filling stations.

The collection, charging and distribution machines may maintain a stockof fully charged or almost fully charged electrical storage devices foruse by end users. The collection, charging and distribution machines maycollect, receive or otherwise accept depleted electrical storagedevices, for example as returned by end users, recharging such for reuseby subsequent end users.

Thus, as a battery or other electrical power storage device reaches orapproaches the end of its stored charge, an end user may simply replace,exchange or otherwise swap batteries or other electrical power storagedevices. This may address issues related to cost, as well as limitedrange and relatively long recharging times.

As previously noted, secondary batteries and other electrical powerstorage devices are relatively expensive. Thus, it is beneficial tostock the least number of electrical power storage devices possible,while still ensuring that demand for such is satisfied.

For these reasons, the ability to have electrical power storage devicesavailable is important to commercial success of any such endeavor. Anumber of approaches are described herein to provide availability ofcharged electrical power storage devices to meet current demand.

A method of operating a system for providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices at acollection, charging and distribution machine for collection, chargingand distribution of portable electrical energy storage devices may besummarized as including: receiving, by the system for providinginformation regarding availability of portable electrical energy storagedevices, information regarding presence of a user device; and inresponse to the received information regarding presence of the userdevice, communicating to the user device, by the system for providinginformation regarding availability of portable electrical energy storagedevices, information regarding an availability of a portable electricalenergy storage device at a collection, charging and distributionmachine.

The presence of the user device may be within a wireless signal range ofthe collection, charging and distribution machine. The system forproviding information regarding availability of portable electricalenergy storage devices may be part of the collection, charging anddistribution machine. The communicating to the user device may includesending a message from the system for providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices to the userdevice over a wireless signal via a local area network to which thesystem for providing information regarding availability of portableelectrical energy storage devices is connected. The communicating to theuser device may include communicating to the user device how manyportable electrical energy storage devices are available at thecollection, charging and distribution machine. The method may furtherinclude receiving a request originating from the user to reserve aportable electrical energy storage device available at the collection,charging and distribution machines; and in response to the request,reserving for the user an available portable electrical energy storagedevice at the collection, charging and distribution machine. Theavailable portable electrical energy storage device may be reserved fora limited amount of time for the user. The receiving the informationregarding presence of the user device may include receiving theinformation regarding presence of the user device based on globalpositioning system data associated with a current location of the userdevice. The information regarding the availability of the portableelectrical energy storage device may include information regarding atype of portable electrical energy storage device and an associatedprice for the user to obtain the type of portable electrical energystorage device. The information regarding the availability of theportable electrical energy storage device may be communicated to theuser device in response to a request from the user device. The methodmay further include communicating to the user device informationregarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices atone or more of a plurality of collection, charging and distributionmachines within a particular distance from the user device. The userdevice may be a wireless mobile device.

A system for providing information regarding availability of portableelectrical energy storage devices at a collection, charging anddistribution machine for collection, charging and distribution ofportable electrical energy storage devices may be summarized asincluding at least one processor of the system for providing informationregarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices;and at least one processor-readable memory of the system for providinginformation regarding availability of portable electrical energy storagedevices that stores instructions executable by the at least oneprocessor to cause the at least one processor to: cause a user device toemit a wireless signal from a user device; and in response to theemission of the wireless signal, receive a communication at the userdevice including information regarding an availability of a portableelectrical energy storage device at a collection, charging anddistribution machine.

The communication may be a short message service communication receivedover a wireless connection to a local area network. The instructions maybe executable by the at least one processor to further cause the atleast one processor to: cause an indication of a number of portableelectrical energy storage devices available at the collection, chargingand distribution machine to be displayed on the user device. Theinstructions may be executable by the at least one processor to furthercause the at least one processor to: cause an indication to be displayedon a displayed map, the indication indicative of whether a portableelectrical energy storage device is available at the collection,charging and distribution machine. The communication includinginformation regarding an availability of a portable electrical energystorage device may be received from the collection, charging anddistribution machine. The communication including information regardingan availability of a portable electrical energy storage device may bereceived from the collection, charging and distribution machine via acollection, charging and distribution machine management system remotefrom the collection, charging and distribution machine.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions thatwhen executed by a system for providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices at acollection, charging and distribution machine for collection, chargingand distribution of portable electrical energy storage devices, maycause the system for providing information regarding availability ofportable electrical energy storage devices to perform: receiving anindication of selection by a user of a user interface elementrepresenting an available portable electrical energy storage device toreserve the available portable electrical energy storage device; andcommunicating the selection to reserve the available portable electricalenergy storage device at a collection, charging and distributionmachine.

The instructions may further cause the system for providing informationregarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices toperform: communicating a confirmation that the available portableelectrical energy storage device has been reserved. The instructions mayfurther cause the system for providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices to perform:receiving an advertisement regarding an available portable electricalenergy storage device within a particular range of a user device; anddisplaying the advertisement on the user device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elementsor acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawingsare not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of variouselements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elementsare arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility.Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn, are notintended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of theparticular elements, and have been solely selected for ease ofrecognition in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a collection, charging and distributionmachine along with a number of electrical power storage devicesaccording to one non-limiting illustrated embodiment, along with anelectric scooter or motorbike, and an electrical service provided via anelectrical grid.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the collection, charging and distributionmachine of FIG. 1, according to one non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for providing informationregarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices andlocations of collection, charging and distribution machines, such asthat of FIG. 1, according to one non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the collection, charging and distributionmachine management system of FIG. 3, according to one non-limitingillustrated embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an example user interface of a user mobile device indicatingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices at acollection, charging and distribution machine, according to onenon-limiting illustrated embodiment

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing a high level method of providinginformation regarding availability of portable electrical energy storagedevices at a collection, charging and distribution machine, according toone non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing a low level method of sending a messagefrom a system for providing information regarding availability ofportable electrical energy storage devices useful in the method of FIG.6, according to one non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing a high level method of receiving acommunication at a user device including information regarding anavailability of a portable electrical energy storage device, accordingto one non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing a high level method of reserving anavailable portable electrical energy storage device at a collection,charging and distribution machine, according to one non-limitingillustrated embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosedembodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognizethat embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In otherinstances, well-known structures associated with vending apparatus,batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors, power convertersincluding but not limited to transformers, rectifiers, DC/DC powerconverters, switch mode power converters, controllers, andcommunications systems and structures and networks have not been shownor described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions ofthe embodiments.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification andclaims which follow, the word “comprise” and variations thereof, suchas, “comprises” and “comprising” are to be construed in an open,inclusive sense that is as “including, but not limited to.”

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or“in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

The use of ordinals such as first, second and third does not necessarilyimply a ranked sense of order, but rather may only distinguish betweenmultiple instances of an act or structure.

Reference to portable electrical power storage device means any devicecapable of storing electrical power and releasing stored electricalpower including but not limited to batteries, supercapacitors orultracapacitors. Reference to batteries means chemical storage cell orcells, for instance rechargeable or secondary battery cells includingbut not limited to nickel cadmium alloy or lithium ion battery cells.

The headings and Abstract of the Disclosure provided herein are forconvenience only and do not interpret the scope or meaning of theembodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an environment 100 including a collection, charging anddistribution machine 102, according to one illustrated embodiment.

The collection, charging and distribution machine 102 may take the formof a vending machine or kiosk. The collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 has a plurality of receivers, compartments or receptacles104 a, 104 b-104 n (only three called out in FIG. 1, collectively 104)to removably receive portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g.,batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors) 106 a-106 n (collectively106) for collection, charging and distribution. As illustrated in FIG.1, some of the receivers 104 are empty, while other receivers 104 holdportable electrical energy storage devices 106. While FIG. 1 shows asingle portable electrical energy storage device 106 per receiver 104,in some embodiments each receiver 104 may hold two or even more portableelectrical energy storage devices 106. For example, each of thereceivers 104 may be sufficiently deep to receive three portableelectrical energy storage devices 106. Thus, for example, thecollection, charging and distribution machine 102 illustrated in FIG. 1may have a capacity capable of simultaneously holding 40, 80 or 120portable electrical energy storage devices 106.

The portable electrical energy storage devices 106 may take a variety offorms, for example batteries (e.g., array of battery cells) orsupercapacitors or ultracapacitors (e.g., array of ultracapacitorcells). For example, the portable electrical energy storage devices 106z may take the form of rechargeable batteries (i.e., secondary cells orbatteries). The portable electrical energy storage devices 106 z may,for instance, be sized to physically fit, and electrically power,personal transportation vehicles, such as all-electric scooters ormotorbikes 108. As previously noted, combustion engine scooters andmotorbikes are common in many large cities, for example in Asia, Europeand the Middle East. The ability to conveniently access chargedbatteries throughout a city or region may allow the use of all-electricscooters and motorbikes 108 in place of combustion engine scooters andmotorbikes, thereby alleviating air pollution, as well as reducingnoise.

The portable electrical energy storage devices 106 (only visible forportable electrical energy storage device 106 z) may include a number ofelectrical terminals 110 a, 110 b (two illustrated, collectively 110),accessible from an exterior of the portable electrical energy storagedevice 106 z. The electrical terminals 110 allow charge to be deliveredfrom the portable electrical energy storage device 106 z, as well asallow charge to be delivered to the portable electrical energy storagedevice 106 z for charging or recharging the same. While illustrated inFIG. 1 as posts, the electrical terminals 110 may take any other formwhich is accessible from an exterior of the portable electrical energystorage device 106 z, including electrical terminals positioned withinslots in a battery housing.

The collection, charging and distribution machine 102 is positioned atsome location 112 at which the collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 is conveniently and easily accessible by various end users.The location may take any of a large variety of forms, for example, aretail environment such as a convenience store, supermarket, gas orpetrol station, or service shop. Alternatively, the collection, chargingand distribution machine 102 may stand alone at a location 112 notassociated with an existing retail or other business, for example inpublic parks or other public places.

Thus, for example, collection, charging and distribution machines 102may be located at each store of a chain of convenience stores throughouta city or region. Such may advantageously rely on the fact thatconvenience stores are often sited or distributed based on convenienceto the target population or demographic. Such may advantageously rely onpre-existing leases on storefronts or other retail locations to allow anextensive network of collection, charging and distribution machines 102to be quickly developed in a city or region. Quickly achieving a largenetwork which is geographically well distributed to serve a targetpopulation enhances the ability to depend on such a system and likelycommercial success of such an effort. Providing a system in which userscan be alerted to the availability of charged portable electrical energystorage devices at collection, charging and distribution machines inclose proximity to the user also enhances the ability to depend on sucha system and likely commercial success of such an effort. The ability toenable users to be quickly alerted to the availability of chargedportable electrical energy storage devices at collection, charging anddistribution machines in close proximity to the respective user as wellas provide the ability for users to select and reserve the portableelectrical energy storage devices at the collection, charging anddistribution machine 102 is addressed herein.

The location 112 may include an electrical service 114 to receiveelectrical power from a generating station (not shown) for example via agrid 116. The electrical service 114 may, for example, include one ormore of an electrical service meter 114 a, a circuit panel (e.g.,circuit breaker panel or fuse box) 114 b, wiring 114 c, and electricaloutlet 114 d. Where the location 112 is an existing retail orconvenience store, the electrical service 114 may be an existingelectrical service, so may be somewhat limited in rating (e.g., 120volts, 240 volts, 220 volts, 230 volts, 15 amps).

Neither the operator of the retail location 112, nor the owner,distributor or operator of the collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 may wish to bear the costs of upgrading the electricalservice 114. Yet, quick charging is desired in order to maintain anadequate supply of portable electrical energy storage devices 106available for use by end users. The ability to quickly charge whilemaintaining existing or otherwise limited rated electrical service isaddressed in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/511,900,entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR COLLECTION, CHARGING ANDDISTRIBUTING POWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH AS BATTERIES” and filed Jul.26, 2011.

Optionally, the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 mayinclude or be coupled to a source of renewable electrical power. Forexample, where installed in an outside location the collection, chargingand distribution machine 102 may include an array of photovoltaic (PV)cells 118 to produce electrical power from solar insolation.Alternatively, the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 maybe electrically coupled to a microturbine (e.g., wind turbine) or PVarray positioned elsewhere at the location 112, for instance on a rooftop or pole mounted at a top of a pole (not shown).

The collection, charging and distribution machine 102 may becommunicatively coupled to one or more remotely located computersystems, such as back end or back office systems (only one shown) 120.The back end or back office systems 120 may collect data from and/orcontrol a plurality of collection, charging and distribution machine 102distributed about an area, such as a city. The communications may occurover one or more communications channels including one or more networks122, or non-networked communications channels. Communications may beover one or more wired communications channels (e.g., twisted pairwiring, optical fiber), wireless communications channels (e.g., radio,microwave, satellite, 801.11 compliant). Networked communicationschannels may include one or more local area networks (LANs), wide areanetworks (WANs), extranets, intranets, or the Internet including theWorldwide Web portion of the Internet.

The collection, charging and distribution machine 102 may include a userinterface 124. The user interface may include a variety of input/output(I/O) devices to allow an end user to interact with the collection,charging and distribution machine 102. Various I/O devices are calledout and described in reference to FIG. 2, which follows.

FIG. 2 shows the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 ofFIG. 1, according to one illustrated embodiment.

The collection, charging and distribution machine 102 includes a controlsubsystem 202, a charging subsystem 204, a communications subsystem 206,and a user interface subsystem 208.

The control subsystem 202 includes a controller 210, for example amicroprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic controller (PLC),programmable gate array (PGA), application specific integrated circuit(ASIC) or another controller capable of receiving signals from varioussensors, performing logical operations, and sending signals to variouscomponents. Typically, the controller 210 may take the form of amicroprocessor (e.g., INTEL, AMD, ATOM). The control subsystem 202 mayalso include one or more non-transitory processor- or computer-readablestorage media, for example read only memory (ROM) 212, random accessmemory (RAM) 214, and data store 216 (e.g., solid-state storage mediasuch as flash memory or EEPROM, spinning storage media such as harddisk). The non-transitory processor- or computer-readable storage media212, 214, 216 may be in addition to any non-transitory storage medium(e.g., registers) which is part of the controller 210. The controlsubsystem 202 may include one or more buses 218 (only one illustrated)coupling various components together, for example one or more powerbuses, instruction buses, data buses, etc.

As illustrated, the ROM 212, or some other one of the non-transitoryprocessor- or computer-readable storage media 212, 214, 216, storesinstructions and/or data or values for variables or parameters. The setsof data may take a variety of forms, for example a lookup table, a setof records in a database, etc. The instructions and sets of data orvalues are executable by the controller 110. Execution of theinstructions and sets of data or values causes the controller 110 toperform specific acts to cause the collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 to collect, charge, and distribute portable energy storagedevices. Specific operation of the collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 is described herein and also below with reference to variousflow diagrams (FIGS. 14-16).

The controller 210 may use RAM 214 in a conventional fashion, forvolatile storage of instructions, data, etc. The controller 210 may usedata store 216 to log or retain information, for example telemetricinformation related to collection, charging and/or distribution orcollection of the portable electric power storage devices 106 and/oroperation of the collection, charging and distribution machine 102itself. The instructions are executable by the controller 210 to controloperation of the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 inresponse to end user or operator input, and using data or values for thevariables or parameters.

The control subsystem 202 receives signals from various sensors and/orother components of the collection, charging and distribution machine102 which include information that characterizes or is indicative ofoperation, status, or condition of such other components. Sensors arerepresented in FIG. 2 by the letter S appearing in a circle along withappropriate subscript letters.

For example, one or more position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) may detect thepresence or absence of portable electrical power storage device 106 ateach of the receivers 104. The position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) may take avariety of forms. For example, the position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) maytake the form of mechanical switches that are closed, or alternativelyopened, in response to contact with a portion of a respective portableelectrical power storage device 106 when the portable electrical powerstorage device 106 is inserted into the receiver 104. Also for example,the position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) may take the form of optical switches(i.e., optical source and receiver) that are closed, or alternativelyopened, in response to contact with a portion of a respective portableelectrical power storage device 106 when the portable electrical powerstorage device 106 is inserted into the receiver 104. Also for example,the position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) may take the form of electricalsensors or switches that are closed, or alternatively opened, inresponse to detecting a closed circuit condition created by contact withthe terminals 110 of a respective portable electrical power storagedevice 106 when the portable electrical power storage device 106 isinserted into the receiver 104, or an open circuit condition thatresults from the lack of a respective portable electrical power storagedevice 106 in the receiver 104. These examples are intended to benon-limiting, and it is noted that any other structures and devices fordetecting the presence/absence, the availability, or even the insertionof the portable electrical power storage devices 106 into receivers maybe employed.

For example, one or more charge sensors S_(C1)-S_(CN) may detect chargeof the portable electrical power storage devices 106 at each of thereceivers 104. Charge sensors S_(C1)-S_(CN) may detect the amount ofcharge stored by the portable electrical power storage devices 106.Charge sensors S_(C1)-S_(CN) may additionally detect an amount of chargeand/or rate of charging being supplied to ones of the portableelectrical power storage devices 106 at each of the receivers 104. Suchmay allow assessment of current (i.e., temporal) charge condition orstatus of each portable electrical power storage device 106, as well asallow feedback control over charging of same, including control overrate of charging. Charge sensors S_(C1)-S_(CN) may include any varietyof current and/or voltage sensors.

For example, one or more charge sensors S_(T1) (only one shown) maydetect or sense a temperature at the receivers 104 or in the ambientenvironment.

The control subsystem 202 provides signals to various actuators and/orother components responsive to control signals, which signals includeinformation that characterizes or is indicative of an operation thecomponent is to perform or a state or condition in which the componentsshould enter. Control signals, actuators or other components responsiveto control signals are represented in FIG. 2 by the letter C appearingin a circle along with appropriate subscript letters.

For example, one or more engine control signals C_(A1)-C_(AN) may affectthe operation of one or more actuators 220 (only one illustrated). Forinstance, a control signal C_(A1) may cause movement of an actuator 220between a first and a second position or change a magnetic fieldproduced by the actuator 220. The actuator 220 may take any of a varietyof forms, including but not limited to a solenoid, an electric motorsuch as a stepper motor, or an electromagnet. The actuator 220 may becoupled to operate a latch, lock or other retainer mechanism 222. Thelatch, lock or other retainer mechanism 222 may selectively secure orretain one or more portable electrical power storage devices 106(FIG. 1) in the receiver 104 (FIG. 1). For instance, the latch, lock orother retainer mechanism 222 may physically couple to a complimentarystructure that is part of a housing of the portable electrical powerstorage devices 106 (FIG. 1). Alternatively, the latch, lock or otherretainer mechanism 222 may magnetically couple to a complimentarystructure that is part of a housing of the portable electrical powerstorage devices 106 (FIG. 1). Also for instance, the latch, lock orother mechanism may open a receiver 104 (FIG. 1), or may allow areceiver 104 to be opened, to receive a partially or fully dischargedportable electrical power storage device 106 for charging. For example,the actuator may open and/or close a door to the receiver 104 (FIG. 1),to selectively provide access to a portable electrical power storagedevice 106 (FIG. 1) received therein. Also for example, the actuator mayopen and/or close a latch or lock, allowing an end user to open and/orclose a door to the receiver 104 (FIG. 1), to selectively provide accessto a portable electrical power storage device 106 (FIG. 1) receivedtherein.

The control subsystem 202 may include one or more ports 224 a to providecontrol signals to one or more ports 224 b of the charging subsystem206. The ports 224 a, 224 b may provide bi-directional communications.The control subsystem 202 may include one or more ports 226 a to providecontrol signals to one or more ports 226 b of the user interfacesubsystem 208. The ports 226 a, 226 b may provide bi-directionalcommunications.

The charging subsystem 102 includes various electrical and electroniccomponents to charge portable electrical power storage devices 106 whenpositioned or received in the receivers 104. For example, the chargingsubsystem 102 may include one or more power buses or power bus bars,relays, contactors or other switches (e.g., insulated gate bipolartransistors or IGBTs, metal oxide semiconductor transistors or MOSFETs),rectifier bridge(s), current sensors, ground fault circuitry, etc. Theelectrical power is supplied via contacts that can take any of a varietyof forms, for instance terminals, leads, posts, etc. The contacts allowelectrical coupling of various components. Some possible implementationsare illustrated in FIG. 2. Such is not intended to be exhaustive.Additional components may be employed while other components may beomitted.

The illustrated charging subsystem 102 includes a first power converter230 that receives electrical power from the electrical service 114(FIG. 1) via a line or cord 232. The power will typically be in the formof single, two or three phase AC electrical power. As such, the firstpower converter 230 may need to convert and otherwise condition theelectrical power received via the electrical services 114 (FIG. 1), forexample for rectifying an AC waveform to DC, transforming voltage,current, phase, as well as reducing transients and noise. Thus, thefirst power converter 230 may include a transformer 234, rectifier 236,DC/DC power converter 238, and filter(s) 240.

The transformer 234 may take the form of any variety of commerciallyavailable transformers with suitable ratings for handling the powerreceived via the electrical service 114 (FIG. 1). Some embodiments mayemploy multiple transformers. The transformer 234 may advantageouslyprovide galvanic isolation between the components of the collection,charging and distribution machine 102 and the grid 116 (FIG. 1). Therectifier 236 may take any of variety of forms, for example a fullbridge diode rectifier or a switch mode rectifier. The rectifier 236 maybe operated to transform AC electrical power to DC electrical power. TheDC/DC power converter 238 may be any of a large variety of forms. Forexample, DC/DC power converter 238 may take the form a switch mode DC/DCpower converter, for instance employing IGBTs or MOSFETs in a half orfull bridge configuration, and may include one or more inductors. TheDC/DC power converter 238 may have any number of topologies including aboost converter, buck converter, synchronous buck converter, buck-boostconverter or fly-back converter. The filter(s) 240 may include one ormore capacitors, resistors, Zener diodes or other elements to suppressvoltage spikes, or to remove or reduce transients and/or noise.

The illustrated charging subsystem 102 may also receive electrical powerfrom a renewable power source, for example the PV array 118 (FIG. 1).Such may be converted or conditioned by the first power converter 230,for example being supplied directly to the DC/DC power converter 238,bypassing the transformer 236 and/or rectifier 236. Alternatively, theillustrated charging subsystem 102 may include a dedicated powerconverter to convert or otherwise condition such electrical power.

The illustrated charging subsystem 102 may optionally include secondpower converter 242 that receives electrical power from one or moreportable electrical power storage devices 106 (FIG. 1) via one or morelines 244, for charging other ones of the portable electrical powerstorage devices 106. As such, the second power converter 242 may need toconvert and/or otherwise condition the electrical power received fromportable electrical power storage devices 106, for example optionallytransforming voltage or current, as well as reducing transients andnoise. Thus, the second power converter 242 may optionally include aDC/DC power converter 246 and/or filter(s) 248. Various types of DC/DCpower converters and filters are discussed above.

The illustrated charging subsystem 102 includes a plurality of switches250 responsive to the control signals delivered via ports 224 a, 224 bfrom the control subsystem 202. The switches may be operable toselectively couple a first number or set of portable electrical powerstorage devices 106 to be charged from electrical power supplied by boththe electrical service via the first power converter 230 and fromelectrical power supplied by a second number or set of portableelectrical power storage devices 106. The first number or set ofportable electrical power storage devices 106 may include a singleportable electrical power storage device 106, two, or even more portableelectrical power storage devices 106. The second number or set ofportable electrical power storage devices 106 may include a singleportable electrical power storage device 106, two, or even more portableelectrical power storage devices 106. The portable electrical powerstorage devices 106 are represented in FIG. 2 as loads L₁,L₂-L_(N).

The communications subsystem 206 may additionally include one or morecommunications modules or components which facilitate communicationswith the various components of a back end or back office system 120(FIG. 1). The communications subsystem 206 may, for example, include oneor more modems 252 or one or more Ethernet or other types ofcommunications cards or components 254. A port 256 a of the controlsubsystem 202 may communicatively couple the control subsystem 202 witha port 256 b of the communications subsystem 206. The communicationssubsystem 206 may provide wired and/or wireless communications. Thecommunications subsystem 206 may include one or more ports, wirelessreceivers, wireless transmitters or wireless transceivers to providewireless signal paths to the various remote components or systems. Theremote communications subsystem 206 may include one or more bridges orrouters suitable to handle network traffic including switched packettype communications protocols (TCP/IP), Ethernet or other networkingprotocols.

The user interface system 208 includes one or more user input/output(I/O) components. For example, user interface system 208 may include atouch screen display 208 a, operable to present information and agraphical user interface (GUI) to an end user and to receive indicationsof user selections. The user interface system 208 may include a keyboardor keypad 208 b, and/or a cursor controller (e.g., mouse, trackball,trackpad) (not illustrated) to allow an end user to enter informationand/or select user selectable icons in a GUI. The user interface system208 may include a speaker 208 c to provide aural messages to an end userand/or a microphone 208 d to receive spoken user input such as spokencommands.

The user interface system 208 may include a card reader 208 e to readinformation from card type media 209. The card reader 208 e may take avariety of forms. For instance, the card reader 208 e may take the formof, or include, a magnetic stripe reader for reading information encodedin a magnetic stripe carried by a card 209. For instance, the cardreader 208 e may take the form of, or include, a machine-readable symbol(e.g., barcode, matrix code) card reader for reading information encodedin a machine-readable symbol carried by a card 209. For instance, thecard reader 208 e may take the form of, or include, a smart card readerfor reading information encoded in a non-transitory medium carried by acard 209. Such may, for instance, include media employing radiofrequency identification (RFID) transponders or electronic payment chips(e.g., near filed communications (NFC) chips). Thus, the card reader 208e may be able to read information from a variety of card media 209, forinstance credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, prepaid cards, as wellas identification media such as drivers licenses.

The user interface system 208 may include a bill acceptor 208 f and avalidator and/or coin acceptor 208 g to accept and validate cashpayments. Such may be highly useful in servicing populations who lackaccess to credit. Bill acceptor and validator 208 f and/or coin acceptor208 g may take any variety of forms, for example those that arecurrently commercially available and used in various vending machinesand kiosks.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system 300 for providing informationregarding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices andlocations of collection, charging and distribution machines, such asthat of FIG. 1, according to one non-limiting illustrated embodiment.

Shown is a collection, charging and distribution machine managementsystem 302 for providing locations of collection, charging anddistribution machines, such as, for example, machines like thecollection, charging and distribution machine 102 of FIG. 1 and forproviding availability of portable electrical energy storage devices tousers at or near individual collection, charging and distributionmachines. For example, the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 also provides information regarding theavailability at each collection, charging and distribution machine 102of portable electrical energy storage devices, and in some embodiments,the types of portable electrical energy storage devices 106 available.In some embodiments, the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 may be the back end or back office system 120shown in FIG. 1. In other embodiments, the collection, charging anddistribution machine management system 302 may be part of or may inoperable communication with, the back end or back office system 120shown in FIG. 1.

For illustrative purposes, shown are two example areas, Area X 306 andArea Y 304, which each contain one or more collection, charging anddistribution machines and one or more electrically powered vehicles. Asshown in FIG. 3, as an example, Area Y 306 includes collection, chargingand distribution machine 308 a; collection, charging and distributionmachine 308 b; and vehicle 310 a. For example, Area Y may be defined bya radius from vehicle 310 a or from user mobile device 313 of aparticular distance (e.g., 10 kilometers), defined by a particulardriving time (e.g., 10 minutes) from vehicle 310 a or mobile device 313and/or defined by a particular driving distance from vehicle 310 a ormobile device 313. The driving time and/or driving distance may becalculated based on the current location of the vehicle 310 a and/ormobile device 313 and one or more of: the roads and driving routesavailable to the particular collection, charging and distributionmachine from the current location of the vehicle 310 a and/or mobiledevice 313, current traffic conditions, preferred routes of the user,historical driving routes of the user, the current direction the user istraveling, etc. Area Y may also be defined by an area in which the userdevice 313 or vehicle 310 a is in close proximity to a particularcollection, charging and distribution machine (e.g., within walkingdistance, within zero to approximately 20 meters, within short rangewireless signal range, within wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) signal range,etc.) For example, a user carrying user device 313 may be just outside aconvenience store in which collection, charging and distribution machine308 a is located. Area X 304 includes collection, charging anddistribution machine 308 c, collection, charging and distributionmachine 308 d and vehicle 310 b. Area X may be defined by a radius fromvehicle 310 b of a particular distance and/or defined by a particulardriving distance or driving time from vehicle 310 b. Area X may also bedefined by an area in which the vehicle 310 b is in close proximity to aparticular collection, charging and distribution machine (e.g., withinwalking distance, within zero to approximately 20 meters, within shortrange wireless signal range, within wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) signalrange, etc.) In other embodiments, each area represents a differentgeographic location whose boundaries may be defined by any number ofcriteria including, but not limited to: property, neighborhood,district, municipality, city, population, county, state, province,country, road, water, longitudinal or latitudinal coordinates,boundaries or any other public, private, physical or political boundary.Also, each area may contain fewer or more collection, charging anddistribution machines depending on the boundary constraints.

The collection, charging and distribution machine management system 302is in operable communication with the collection, charging anddistribution machines 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d, and one or moreuser mobile communication devices 313 (only one shown as an example),such that data may be exchanged between the collection, charging anddistribution machine management system 302, the collection, charging anddistribution machines 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d, and the user mobilecommunication device 313. This data may represent actual, expected orpredicted availability of portable electrical energy storage devices 106at one or more of the collection, charging and distribution machines.

In some embodiments, an available portable electrical energy storagedevice 106 z may be an operable and fully or nearly fully chargedportable electrical energy storage device that has not yet beenreserved. Also, the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302, the collection, charging and distributionmachines 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d, and the user mobilecommunication device 313 may, in some embodiments, additionally orinstead be in operable communication directly with each other.

This communication between the various items, systems and entities ofFIG. 3 is enabled by the various communications subsystems of thesevarious items, systems and entities. For example, this communication maybe enabled by the various communications subsystems of the distributionmachines 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d, the collection, charging anddistribution machine management system 302, the vehicles 310 a and 310b, and the user mobile communications device 313. One or more of suchcommunication subsystems may provide wired and/or wirelesscommunications (e.g., cellular, local area network connections, and/orshort range wireless connections using or being compatible with anyoperable communications protocol and/or standard). The communicationssubsystems of the items in FIG. 3 may include one or more ports,wireless receivers, wireless transmitters or wireless transceivers toprovide wireless signal paths to the various remote components orsystems. The remote communications subsystems may include one or morebridges or routers suitable to handle network traffic including switchedpacket type communications protocols (TCP/IP), Ethernet or othernetworking protocols.

For example, the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 may receive an update from collection, chargingand distribution machine 308 c indicating the current inventory and/oravailability of charged electrical energy storage devices at collection,charging and distribution machine 308 c. In some embodiments, thecollection, charging and distribution machine management system 302 maycontinually or periodically monitor the inventories of chargedelectrical energy storage devices of all or many of the collection,charging and distribution machines. Also, the collection, charging anddistribution machines may continually or periodically provide updates tothe collection, charging and distribution machine management system 302regarding the inventory of charged electrical energy storage devices ofthe respective collection, charging and distribution machine. Thisinformation may be provided to mobile device 313, vehicle 310 a, and/orvehicle 310 b continuously, periodically, aperiodically and/or or inresponse to a request for such information from mobile device 313,vehicle 310 a, and/or vehicle 310 b. For example, this information maybe provided to mobile device 313, vehicle 310 a, and/or vehicle 310 b inresponse to the mobile device 313 or vehicle 310 a being detected by thecollection, charging and distribution machine management system 302 or acollection, charging and distribution machine within area Y as beingwithin area Y (e.g., within close proximity to collection, charging anddistribution machine 308 a and/or collection, charging and distributionmachine 308 b).

An alert may then be sent to the mobile device 313 or vehicle 310 a(e.g., via a text message, email, instant message, status update on asocial media network, automated phone call, as a notification within aspecific application, etc.) that there is an available portableelectrical energy storage device at the particular collection, chargingand distribution machine in close proximity to the mobile device 313and/or vehicle 310 a. This alert may be sent via any variety ofcommunications channels including, but not limited to, cellulartelephone networks, computer wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks,satellite networks, short range wireless signals, etc., or any operablecombination thereof. Also, in some embodiments, the locations ofcollection, charging and distribution machines in other larger areasthat surround the mobile device and/or vehicle 310 a and that haveavailable portable electrical energy storage devices may also or insteadbe provided to a respective user of the mobile device 313 or vehicle 310a.

The alert may also include a selectable link, icon or other userinterface element that the user may select to reserve the availableportable electrical energy storage device associated with the alert.Once the element is selected, information representing this reservationis communicated to the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 and/or the respective collection, charging anddistribution machine at which the portable electrical energy storagedevice is available. This reservation information is stored in adatabase of reservations maintained centrally by the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 and/or locallyat the selected collection, charging and distribution machine.

For example, the reservation may include a record in which an availableportable electrical energy storage device or unique reservation numberor code is associated with the user who reserved the portable electricalenergy storage device, such as by a user identification or other userdata communicated from the mobile device 313, vehicle 310 a, and/orvehicle 310 b to the collection, charging and distribution machine 102or the collection, charging and distribution machine management system302 when the reservation was being made. In some embodiments, eachportable electrical energy storage device may have an identificationcode or number uniquely identifying the particular portable electricalenergy storage device. This portable electrical energy storage deviceidentification number or code may be associated with the useridentification number or code in the reservation record. The number ofavailable portable electrical energy storage devices available at theselected collection, charging and distribution machine location is thendecreased by one by the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 and/or by the selected collection, charging anddistribution machine.

The reservation may be for a limited time or have other restrictions.After the limited time elapses and the user has not removed the reservedportable electrical energy storage device at the selected collection,charging and distribution machine, the portable electrical energystorage device then becomes available and this available status isupdated in the collection, charging and distribution machine managementsystem 302 and/or the selected collection, charging and distributionmachine system.

The collection, charging and distribution machine system may identifythe user via the user interface of the collection, charging anddistribution machine by the user inputting particular user credentials,a password, biometric data, the user identification number or code,and/or by the card reader 208 e described above, etc. Also, theinformation regarding available portable electrical energy storagedevices may be communicated and organized in any manner including in alist, as a group of selectable icons, etc., that indicates particularcollection, charging and distribution machines have one or moreavailable charged portable electrical energy storage devices.

In some instances, particular collection, charging and distributionmachines may be further away from the user's current location than othercollection, charging and distribution machines near the user thatperhaps are currently experiencing higher demand. Thus, the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 may communicateto the user a redeemable incentive for the user to exchange or returntheir portable electrical energy storage devices to one of thecollection, charging and distribution machines that are further awayfrom the user than other closer collection, charging and distributionmachines that also have available portable electrical energy storagedevices. For example, the incentive may be redeemable as a discount orcredit on fees related to the use of one or more of the plurality ofcollection, charging and distribution machines. Also, users may beprovided similar incentives to return or exchange electrical energystorage devices before they are depleted or almost depleted to head offor smooth out an anticipated spike in demand.

In some embodiments, various options and features regarding availableportable electrical energy storage devices may be generated and madeavailable to the user. For example, a user's historical routeinformation may be utilized by the collection, charging and distributionmachine management system 302 to anticipate which collection, chargingand distribution machines the user may likely to want to visit, andavailability of charged portable electrical energy storage devices atthese particular collection, charging and distribution machines may becommunicated to the user automatically as these portable electricalenergy storage devices at these locations become available (e.g., bysending an alert to the user).

The availability of charged portable electrical energy storage devicesat these particular collection, charging and distribution machines mayalso or instead be highlighted or given special designations on adisplayed map on the mobile device 313, or may be indicated on thedisplayed map instead of locations of other collection, charging anddistribution machines at which portable electrical energy storagedevices are available. The number and types of available portableelectrical energy storage devices at each collection, charging anddistribution machine location within area Y (e.g., within closeproximity to the mobile device 313 and/or the vehicle 310 a) may also bedisplayed. For example, the number of available high performanceportable electrical energy storage devices and other types of portableelectrical energy storage devices at each collection, charging anddistribution machine may be communicated to the user. These variousoptions may be selectable by the user via a mobile device 313, userinterface on the vehicle 310 a, or other computing device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the collection, charging and distributionmachine management system 302 of FIG. 3, according to one non-limitingillustrated embodiment.

The collection, charging and distribution machine management system 302includes a control subsystem 402, a communications subsystem 406, and auser interface subsystem 408. However, such a system and associatedfunctionalities may also be present in the vehicle (e.g., vehicle 310 aof FIG. 3) and/or the user mobile device 313 also shown in FIG. 3.

The control subsystem 402 includes a controller 410, for example amicroprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic controller (PLC),programmable gate array (PGA), application specific integrated circuit(ASIC) or another controller capable of receiving signals from varioussensors, performing logical operations, and sending signals to variouscomponents. Typically, the controller 410 may take the form of amicroprocessor (e.g., INTEL, AMD, ATOM). The control subsystem 402 mayalso include one or more non-transitory processor- or computer-readablestorage media, for example read only memory (ROM) 412, random accessmemory (RAM) 414, and data store 416 (e.g., solid-state storage mediasuch as flash memory or EEPROM, spinning storage media such as harddisk). The non-transitory processor- or computer-readable storage media412, 414, 416 may be in addition to any non-transitory storage medium(e.g., registers) which is part of the controller 410. The controlsubsystem 402 may include one or more buses 418 (only one illustrated)coupling various components together, for example one or more powerbuses, instruction buses, data buses, etc.

As illustrated, the ROM 412, or some other one of the non-transitoryprocessor- or computer-readable storage media 412, 414, 416, storesinstructions and/or data or values for variables or parameters. The setsof data may take a variety of forms, for example a lookup table, a setof records in a database, etc. The instructions and sets of data orvalues are executable by the controller 410. Execution of theinstructions and sets of data or values causes the controller 410 toperform specific acts to cause the collection, charging and distributionmachine management system 302 receive, send and/or to provideinformation to various external devices regarding availability ofportable electrical energy storage devices at particular collection,charging and distribution machines and, in some embodiments, locationsof collection, charging and distribution machines that have availablecharged portable electrical energy storage devices for use. Execution ofthe instructions and sets of data or values may also cause thecontroller 410 to perform specific acts to cause the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 receive, send,store, maintain, update and otherwise manage information regardingreservations of various portable electrical energy storage devices ofvarious collection, charging and distribution machines. Specificoperation of the collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 is described herein and also below with referenceto various flow diagrams (FIGS. 6-9).

The controller 410 may use RAM 414 in a conventional fashion, forvolatile storage of instructions, data, etc. The controller 410 may usedata store 416 to log or retain information, for example, informationregarding portable electrical energy storage device availability andreservations of portable electrical energy storage devices, informationregarding relative demand of charged portable electrical energy storagedevices between geographical locations, information regarding historicusage patterns of one or more of the plurality of collection, chargingand distribution machines, information regarding user vehicle locationsand telematic and/or telemetric user vehicle information, informationregarding portable electrical energy storage device charge capacity,information regarding route information of users of one or more of thecharged portable electrical energy storage devices, informationregarding energy storage devices, telemetric information related tocollection, charging and/or distribution of collection of the portableelectric power storage devices 106 and/or operation of the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 itself. Theinstructions are executable by the controller 410 to control operationof the collection, charging and distribution machine management system302 in response to input from remote systems such as collection,charging and distribution machines, collection, charging anddistribution machine service systems, user mobile devices, uservehicles, and end user or operator input, and using data or values forthe variables or parameters.

The control subsystem 402 may also receive signals from various sensorsand/or components of a collection, charging and distribution machine,such as the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 of FIG. 1via the communications subsystem 206 of collection, charging anddistribution machine 102. This information may include information thatcharacterizes or is indicative of operation, status, or condition ofsuch components. Sensors are represented in FIG. 2 by the letter Sappearing in a circle along with appropriate subscript letters. Forexample, one or more position sensors S_(P1)-S_(PN) may detect thepresence or absence of portable electrical power storage device 106 ateach of the receivers 104. This information may be communicated to thecontrol subsystem 402. Also, one or more charge sensors S_(C1)-S_(CN)may detect a charge level charge of the portable electrical powerstorage devices 106 at each of the receivers 104. This information mayalso be communicated to the control subsystem 402.

The communications subsystem 406 may include one or more communicationsmodules or components which facilities communications with the variouscomponents of a collection, charging and distribution machine, such ascollection, charging and distribution machine 112 of FIG. 1 and also thevarious components of the collection, charging and distribution machines308 a, 308 b, 308 c and 308 d of FIG. 3, the portable electrical energystorage device transfer service 312 and the one or more user mobilecommunication devices 313, such that data may be exchanged between thecollection, charging and distribution machine management system 302, thecollection, charging and distribution machines 308 a, 308 b, 308 c and308 d, and the user mobile communication device 313. The communicationssubsystem 406 may, for example, include one or more modems 452 or one ormore Ethernet or other types of communications cards or components 454.A port 456 a of the control subsystem 402 may communicatively couple thecontrol subsystem 402 with a port 456 b of the communications subsystem406. The communications subsystem 406 may provide wired and/or wirelesscommunications. The communications subsystem 406 may include one or moreports, wireless receivers, wireless transmitters or wirelesstransceivers to provide wireless signal paths to the various remotecomponents or systems employing or making use of any operable wired andwireless communications standard or protocol. The remote communicationssubsystem 406 may include one or more bridges or routers suitable tohandle network traffic including switched packet type communicationsprotocols (TCP/IP), Ethernet or other networking protocols.

The user interface system 408 includes one or more user input/output(I/O) components (not illustrated). For example, user interface system408 may include a touch screen display operable to present informationand a graphical user interface (GUI) to a user and to receiveindications of user selections. The user interface system 408 mayinclude a keyboard or keypad, and/or a cursor controller (e.g., mouse,trackball, trackpad, and/or touch screen) to allow a user to enterinformation and/or select user selectable icons in a GUI.

FIG. 5 is an example user interface 502 of a user mobile device 313indicating availability of portable electrical energy storage devices ata collection, charging and distribution machine within close proximityto the mobile device 313, according to one non-limiting illustratedembodiment. Also, the user interface 500 may be a user interface of thevehicle 310 a shown in FIG. 3. Shown is an alert 508 sent as a textmessage to the mobile device 313. Once the mobile device is detected bya collection, charging and distribution machine or the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 as being withina particular area surrounding the collection, charging and distributionmachine, the alert 508 is sent as a text message to the mobile device313. However, the alert may be sent in any variety of manners (e.g., viaemail, instant message, status update on a social media network,automated phone call, as a notification within a specific applicationrunning on the mobile device 313, etc.) For example, the mobile device313 may be running an application associated with a collection, chargingand distribution machine, collection, charging and distribution machinemanagement system 302 and/or a portable electrical energy storage devicedistribution system in the foreground or background on the operatingsystem of the mobile device 313 which may request and/or receiveinformation regarding the availability of portable electrical energystorage devices and provide alerts regarding the availability ofportable electrical energy storage devices. The alert may also provideadditional information such as the number of available portableelectrical energy storage devices at the particular collection, chargingand distribution machine and information regarding the exact locatione.g., address) of the collection, charging and distribution machine.

The user may select a particular selectable user interface element(e.g., the “select this link to reserve” element shown within the alert508) to reserve the available portable electrical energy storage deviceat the collection, charging and distribution machine corresponding tothe alert. The user interface 502 may then display a confirmation thatthe portable electrical energy storage device has been reserved, thetime remaining until the reservation expires and directions from theuser's current location to the collection, charging and distributionmachine referred to in the alert 508.

FIG. 6 shows a high level method 600 of providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices at acollection, charging and distribution machine, according to onenon-limiting illustrated embodiment.

At 602, the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 orcollection, charging and distribution machine management system 302receives information regarding presence of a user device (e.g., presenceof a user device within a particular range surrounding the collection,charging and distribution machine). For example, this information mayinclude location data for user device received via a GPS signal or via awireless signal directly from the user device.

Also included may be additional information regarding the quantity ofavailable portable electrical energy storage devices at the collection,charging and distribution machine, the charge levels of the portableelectrical energy storage devices, the types of portable electricalenergy storage devices available, etc. At 604, in response to thereceived information regarding presence of the user device, thecollection, charging and distribution machine 102 or collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 communicates tothe user device information regarding an availability of a portableelectrical energy storage device at a collection, charging anddistribution machine. For example, this information may include thenumber of charged available portable electrical energy storage devicesat the collection, charging and distribution machine 102.

FIG. 7 shows a low level method 700 of sending a message from a systemfor providing information regarding availability of portable electricalenergy storage devices useful in the method of FIG. 6, according to onenon-limiting illustrated embodiment.

At 702, the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 orcollection, charging and distribution machine management system 302sends a message to the user device over a wireless signal via a localarea network to which the system for providing information regardingavailability of portable electrical energy storage devices is connected.

FIG. 8 shows a high level method 800 of receiving a communication at auser device including information regarding an availability of aportable electrical energy storage device, according to one non-limitingillustrated embodiment.

At 802, the user mobile device 313 emits a wireless signal.

At 804, in response to the emission of the wireless signal, the mobiledevice 313 receives a communication including information regarding anavailability of a portable electrical energy storage device at acollection, charging and distribution machine. For example, the emissionof the wireless signal may be received by the collection, charging anddistribution machine 102 and this received information may be receiveddirectly from the collection, charging and distribution machine 102 orthe collection, charging and distribution machine management system 302that is in communication with the collection, charging and distributionmachine 102 and include the number of charged available portableelectrical energy storage devices at the collection, charging anddistribution machine 102.

FIG. 9 shows a high level method 900 of reserving an available portableelectrical energy storage device at a collection, charging anddistribution machine, according to one non-limiting illustratedembodiment.

At 902, the mobile device 313 receives an indication of selection by auser of a user interface element representing an available portableelectrical energy storage device to reserve the available portableelectrical energy storage device.

At 904, the mobile device 313 communicates the selection to reserve anavailable portable electrical energy storage device at the collection,charging and distribution machine 102. For example, the mobile device313 communicates the selection to the collection, charging anddistribution machine management system 302 and/or the collection,charging and distribution machine 102 directly such that the collection,charging and distribution machine management system 302 and/or thecollection, charging and distribution machine 102 system may reserve theselected portable electrical energy storage device for the user.

The various methods described herein may include additional acts, omitsome acts, and/or may perform the acts in a different order than set outin the various flow diagrams.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, schematics,and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, schematics, and examplescontain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understoodby those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation withinsuch block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, thepresent subject matter may be implemented via one or moremicrocontrollers. However, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can beequivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits (e.g.,Application Specific Integrated Circuits or ASICs), as one or morecomputer programs executed by one or more computers (e.g., as one ormore programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or moreprograms executed by on one or more controllers (e.g., microcontrollers)as one or more programs executed by one or more processors (e.g.,microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof,and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for thesoftware and/or firmware would be well within the skill of one ofordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings of this disclosure.

When logic is implemented as software and stored in memory, logic orinformation can be stored on any non-transitory computer-readable mediumfor use by or in connection with any processor-related system or method.In the context of this disclosure, a memory is a nontransitory computer-or processor-readable storage medium that is an electronic, magnetic,optical, or other physical device or means that non-transitorilycontains or stores a computer and/or processor program. Logic and/or theinformation can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use byor in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, orother system that can fetch the instructions from the instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructionsassociated with logic and/or information.

In the context of this specification, a “computer-readable medium” canbe any physical element that can store the program associated with logicand/or information for use by or in connection with the instructionexecution system, apparatus, and/or device. The computer-readable mediumcan be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatusor device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer readable medium would include the following: a portablecomputer diskette (magnetic, compact flash card, secure digital, or thelike), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anerasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory),a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), and digital tape.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to providefurther embodiments. To the extent that they are not inconsistent withthe specific teachings and definitions herein, all of the U.S. patents,U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreignpatents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publicationsreferred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application DataSheet, including but not limited to: U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 61/511,900 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FORCOLLECTION, CHARGING AND DISTRIBUTING POWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH ASBATTERIES” and filed Jul. 26, 2011, U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 61/647,936 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FORCOLLECTION, CHARGING AND DISTRIBUTING POWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH ASBATTERIES” and filed May 16, 2012, U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 61/534,753 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FORREDISTRIBUTING POWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH AS BATTERIES, BETWEENCOLLECTION, CHARGING AND DISTRIBUTION MACHINES” and filed Sep. 14, 2011,U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/534,761 entitled“APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR AUTHENTICATION, SECURITY AND CONTROLOF POWER STORAGE DEVICES SUCH AS BATTERIES” and filed Sep. 14, 2011,U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/534,772 entitled“APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR AUTHENTICATION, SECURITY AND CONTROLOF POWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH AS BATTERIES, BASED ON USER PROFILES” andfiled Sep. 14, 2011, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.61/511,887 entitled “THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF COMPONENTS IN ELECTRIC MOTORDRIVE VEHICLES” and filed Jul. 26, 2011, U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 61/647,941 entitled “THERMAL MANAGEMENT OFCOMPONENTS IN ELECTRIC MOTOR DRIVE VEHICLES” and filed May 16, 2012,U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/511,880 entitled“DYNAMICALLY LIMITING VEHICLE OPERATION FOR BEST EFFORT ECONOMY” andfiled Jul. 26, 2011, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.61/557,170 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD, AND ARTICLE FOR PHYSICALSECURITY OF POWER STORAGE DEVICES IN VEHICLES” and filed Nov. 8, 2011,U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/581,566 entitledAPPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR A POWER STORAGE DEVICE COMPARTMENT′and filed Dec. 29, 2011, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.61/601,404 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR PROVIDING VEHICLEDIAGNOSTIC DATA” and filed Feb. 21, 2012, U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 61/601,949 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLEFOR PROVIDING LOCATIONS OF POWER STORAGE DEVICE COLLECTION, CHARGING ANDDISTRIBUTION MACHINES” and filed Feb. 22, 2012, and U.S. provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 61/601,953 entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD ANDARTICLE FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION REGARDING AVAILABILITY OF POWERSTORAGE DEVICES AT A POWER STORAGE DEVICE COLLECTION, CHARGING ANDDISTRIBUTION MACHINE” and filed Feb. 22, 2012, U.S. application Ser. No.13/559,314, filed on Jul. 26, 2012, naming Hok-Sum Horace Luke, MatthewWhiting Taylor and Huang-Cheng Hung as inventors and entitled“APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FOR COLLECTION, CHARGING AND DISTRIBUTINGPOWER STORAGE DEVICES, SUCH AS BATTERIES”, U.S. application Ser. No.13/559,038, filed on Jul. 26, 2012, naming Hok-Sum Horace Luke andMatthew Whiting Taylor as inventors and entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD ANDARTICLE FOR AUTHENTICATION, SECURITY AND CONTROL OF POWER STORAGEDEVICES SUCH AS BATTERIES” U.S. application Ser. No. 13/559,264, filedon Jul. 26, 2012 naming Hok-Sum Horace Luke and Matthew Whiting Tayloras inventors and entitled “DYNAMICALLY LIMITING VEHICLE OPERATION FORBEST EFFORT ECONOMY”, U.S. application Ser. No. 13/559,054, filed onJul. 26, 2012, naming Matthew Whiting Taylor, Yi-Tsung Wu, Hok-SumHorace Luke and Huang-Cheng Hung as inventors and entitled “APPARATUS,METHOD, AND ARTICLE FOR PHYSICAL SECURITY OF POWER STORAGE DEVICES INVEHICLES”, U.S. application Ser. No. 13/559,390, filed on Jul. 26, 2012,naming Ching Chen, Hok-Sum Horace Luke, Matthew Whiting Taylor, Yi-TsungWu as inventors and entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD AND ARTICLE FORPROVIDING VEHICLE DIAGNOSTIC DATA”, and U.S. application Ser. No.13/559,064, filed on Jul. 26, 2012, naming Hok-Sum Horace Luke, Yi-TsungWu, Jung-Hsiu Chen, Yulin Wu, Chien Ming Huang, TsungTing Chan, Shen-ChiChen and Feng Kai Yang as inventors and entitled “APPARATUS, METHOD ANDARTICLE FOR RESERVING POWER STORAGE DEVICES AT RESERVING POWER STORAGEDEVICE COLLECTION, CHARGING AND DISTRIBUTION MACHINES” are incorporatedherein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of the embodiments canbe modified, if necessary, to employ systems, circuits and concepts ofthe various patents, applications and publications to provide yetfurther embodiments.

While generally discussed in the environment and context of collection,charging and distribution of portable electrical energy storage devicesfor use with personal transportation vehicle such as all-electricscooters and/or motorbikes, the teachings herein can be applied in awide variety of other environments, including other vehicular as well asnon-vehicular environments.

The above description of illustrated embodiments, including what isdescribed in the Abstract of the Disclosure, is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed.Although specific embodiments and examples are described herein forillustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as willbe recognized by those skilled in the relevant art.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of theabove-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, theterms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specificembodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should beconstrued to include all possible embodiments along with the full scopeof equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, theclaims are not limited by the disclosure.

We claim:
 1. A method of operating a system for providing informationregarding availability of batteries at a collection and distributionmachine, the method comprising: receiving, by the system, informationindicating that a user device is within a distance from the collectionand distribution machine; and in response to the received information,communicating to the user device, by the system, information indicativeof a number regarding available batteries at the collection anddistribution machine with a selectable link to reserve at least one ofthe available batteries.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the receivedinformation includes information indicative of the user device beingwithin a wireless signal range of the collection and distributionmachine.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the system is part of thecollection and distribution machine.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: sending a message from the system to the user device over awireless signal via a local area network to which the system isconnected.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection anddistribution machine is a first collection and distribution machine, andwherein the number of available batteries is a first number, and whereinthe method further comprises communicating to the user device a secondnumber of available batteries at a second collection and distributionmachine.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving arequest to reserve the at least one of the available batteries via theselectable link; and in response to the request, reserving the at leastone of the available batteries at the collection and distributionmachine.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one of theavailable batteries is reserved for a limited amount of time.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving information indicatingthat the user device is within the distance from the collection anddistribution machine based on global positioning system data associatedwith a current location of the user device.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising communicating to the user device, by the system,information regarding a type of available batteries and an associatedprice to obtain the type of available batteries.
 10. The method of claim1 wherein the user device is a wireless mobile device.
 11. A method forproviding information regarding availability of batteries at acollection and distribution machine, the method comprising: causing auser device to emit a wireless signal from the user device, when theuser device is within a distance from the collection and distributionmachine; in response to the emission of the wireless signal, receiving acommunication, from the collection and distribution machine, at the userdevice including information indicative of a number regarding availablebatteries at the collection and distribution machine; and receiving aselectable link at the user device to reserve at least one of theavailable batteries.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein thecommunication is a short message service communication received over awireless connection to a local area network.
 13. The method of claim 11,further comprising: displaying the number of available batteries on theuser device.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: displayingthe number of available batteries on a displayed map.
 15. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising receiving the communication from thecollection and distribution machine.
 16. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising receiving the communication from a collection anddistribution machine management system remote from the collection anddistribution machine.
 17. A battery reservation system comprising: atleast one battery reservation system processor unit; and at least oneprocessor-readable memory of the battery reservation system that storesinstructions executable by the at least one battery reservation systemprocessor unit to cause the at least one battery reservation systemprocessor unit to: determine that a user device is within a distancefrom a collection and distribution machine; transmit to the user deviceinformation indicative of a number regarding available batteries at thecollection and distribution machine with a selectable link to reserve atleast one of the available batteries; receive an indication of selectionvia the selectable link to reserve a selected number of availablebatteries at the collection and distribution machine; and communicatethe selection to the collection and distribution machine.
 18. Thebattery reservation system of claim 17 wherein the instructions areexecutable by the least one battery reservation system processor unit tofurther cause the battery reservation system to: communicate aconfirmation to the user device that the selected number of availablebatteries has been reserved.
 19. The battery reservation system of claim17, wherein the collection and distribution machine is a firstcollection and distribution machine, and wherein the number regardingavailable batteries is a first number, and wherein the instructions areexecutable by the least one battery reservation system processor unit tofurther cause the battery reservation system to: receive anadvertisement indicative of a second number regarding availablebatteries at a second collection and distribution machine; and transmitthe advertisement to the user device.